Fair Wholesale Arrangements For Independent Retail Newsagents

EDM number 1503 in 2003-04, proposed by Jim Dowd on 13/07/2004.

That this House welcomes the Government's decision to repeal the Vertical Agreement (Exclusion) Order, which has a negative effect on independent newsagents who are unable to select their own wholesaler and who have seen draconian increases in carriage charges imposed upon them, forcing down the sector's profit margins and leading to bankruptcy and closures, leaving four million people without access to an independent newsagent in their area and therefore no home delivery of newspapers and magazines, which has a particularly adverse effect upon the housebound, frail and those in ill-health and undermines strong communities through lack of choice in publications; and calls on the Secretary of State to restate her intention to abolish the Order at the earliest opportunity and exert her influence to ensure that reform takes place in the newspaper and magazine industry, which will eradicate anti-competitive practices, encourage competition throughout the supply chain, provide independent retail newsagents with more input into the industry's operational management and improve their competitiveness and viability, thus benefiting consumers through improved efficiency, service quality and choice.

This motion has been signed by a total of 111 MPs, 1 of these signatures have been withdrawn.